A Weblog by One Humble Bookman on Topics of Interest to Discerning Readers, Including (Though Not Limited To) Science Fiction, Books, Random Thoughts, Fanciful Family Anecdotes, Publishing, Science Fiction, The Mating Habits of Extinct Waterfowl, The Secret Arts of Marketing, Other Books, Various Attempts at Humor, The Wonders of New Jersey, the Tedious Minutiae of a Boring Life, Science Fiction, No Accounting (For Taste), And Other Weighty Matters.

Who Is This Hornswoggler?

Andrew Wheeler has had a varied career in publishing and related fields. He spent 16 years as a bookclub editor (mostly for the Science Fiction Book Club), and then moved into marketing. He marketed books and related products to accountants for Wiley for eight years, and now works for Thomson Reuters on large online legal products. He was a judge for the 2005 World Fantasy Awards and the 2008 Eisner Awards. He also reviewed a book a day for a year twice. He lives with The Wife and two mostly tame sons (Thing One, born 1998; and Thing Two, born 2000) at an unspecified location in suburban New Jersey. He has been known to drive a minivan, and nearly all of his writings are best read in a tone of bemused sarcasm. Antick Musings’s manifesto is here. All opinions expressed here are entirely and purely those of Andrew Wheeler, and no one else.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Charles N. Brown, founder and long-time editor of Locus (and a fixture of the SFnal fan/pro scene even longer than that) died in his sleep on Sunday night, on the way home from Readercon.

On the one hand, I'm sure Charles would have appreciated dying on the way home from a con. But there are so many cons still to come that will now have to go on without him.

Charles Brown was one of the great Big Name Fans: smart and opinionated, talkative but good at listening, so familiar and dependable that he seemed like part of the furniture. But there's now a big hole in the room of SFF, and it will never quite be filled. Farewell, Charles.